10 Centimes – Tunisia

In 1918, Tunisia's currency situation was a complex legacy of its status as a French protectorate, established in 1881. The monetary system was officially bimetallic, based on both gold and silver, but was effectively dominated by the French franc. The Banque de l'Algérie, which had the right of note issue for Algeria and Tunisia, circulated its Algerian franc notes and coins within the protectorate. This created a de facto currency union with France and its Algerian territory, anchoring Tunisia's economy to the French metropolitan system and facilitating colonial trade and fiscal control.

However, the global context of World War I (1914-1918) profoundly disrupted this arrangement. To finance the war effort, France and the Banque de l'Algérie suspended gold convertibility and significantly increased the issuance of paper money, leading to inflationary pressures. These effects were directly transmitted to Tunisia, causing a decline in the purchasing power of the circulating franc and contributing to economic hardship and rising prices for basic goods. The situation was further complicated by the continued, though diminishing, circulation of older Ottoman and local metallic coins in some sectors, reflecting the incomplete transition to a fully unified colonial currency.

Consequently, by the armistice of 1918, Tunisia's currency was in a state of inflationary flux, entirely tied to a franc that was itself weakened. The system served French administrative and commercial interests but was strained by wartime fiscal policies. This instability set the stage for the monetary reforms of the 1920s, which would more firmly cement the French franc as the sole legal tender and further integrate Tunisia into France's economic orbit, solidifying the financial instruments of colonial rule in the post-war period.